The Story of our Lives

Growing up in the LDS church I've always been told of the importance of keeping a journal. Though, admittedly, I've never been very good at it.

Lately, as I'm watching my boys grow much too fast right before my eyes I am seeing the importance more and more. They do such sweet/funny/crazy things and I know, if I don't write them down now as the years pass those sweet memories of the silly things they do and say will be lost.

I want to keep them young forever but since that's not an option I can keep their youth alive through my journal.

I never want to forget the little wrinkle nose grin that Luke gives me every time I look at him. I never want to forget the unbelievably adorable tantrum Luke throws when I put him down after holding him that lets me know he loves mommy.

This morning "puppy" Ryder came into our room when he woke up. He was playfully barking and snuggling with me. It was the cutest thing in the world until he licked my face like a true puppy would. Though I found it kinda ikky at the time, I also relished in the moment knowing that soon that little puppy-dog-boy who I so adore will be a grown man and I will long to have that playful boy come barking into my room giving out slobber kisses again.

I'm making a better effort to write down those moments. Those memories that might otherwise be lost that I might never forget the story of our live. I know someday those memories will be a priceless possession that I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Love

Im so in love with my cute little family.
Today Ryder and Luke giggled as they played together
and the endorphins started flowing.
It reminded me again
I'm so blessed to have these three great guys in my life.
Nothing makes me happier.

A Simpsons Halloween

I love Halloween. I'd say it's my favorite holiday though I can assure you that once Thanksgiving, Christmas and every other holiday comes around I'll say they're my favorite too! This year was super fun with Ryder, he's really starting to get into the holiday. We made crafts and decorated the house and I had the pleasure of introducing him to a few classics such as Jaws, Hocus Pocus and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. He loved them all. We also introduced him to Thriller by Michael Jackson by way of a spontaneous living room dance party.

This year the boys went as Batman and Robin.

Isn't Batman intimidating?

Pretty sure my caped crusaders are the cutest!

Scott and Ryder had a great time turning their pumpkin into a masterpiece in their own right.

One of the many things I am enjoying about staying home is I have time to make some fun projects of my own. I did tons of baking and creative cooking for Halloween week. Everything from Mummy Dogs to Eyeball sandwiches and then lots of cupcakes. I also had the pleasure of making this cute little wreath for our front door. I got the idea to use the Lima beans from one of my favorite blogs All Things Thrifty. She has the most amazing ideas of inexpensive creative things to personalize your home.

This was taken while in the process of gluing on each bean...took like a gillion years...

I'm pretty proud of my finished product!

I also made some fun cupcakes for Ryders preschool Halloween party. His class has 8 boys and no girls so needless to say, the spiders and worms in the dirt were quite the hit!

Hope you all had a safe and FUN Halloween!

~One Halloween lovin' momma

NieNie Dialogues

I'm in love with this blog I found. Her name is Stephanie. You may have seen her on Oprah recently. Her story is one of amazing strength. She makes me want to be a better wife and mother. I am forever grateful for her willingness to share her story and her life with the world.

Love you all
Sara

Just a Little Quote

"A mother has far greater influence on her children than anyone else, and she must realize that every word she speaks, every act, every response, her attitude, even her appearance and manner of dress affect the lives of her children and the whole family. It is while the child is in the home that he gains from his mother the contribution he will make to society." ~ N. Eldon Tanner

Flying by the Seat of Our Pants

Scotts new job is, well, FABULOUS! The company is well run, they really care about their employees, the pay is awesome, he is on call which means pretty much everyday he's home, sleeping in with me until he gets a call to go fly. It's awesome! But I think best of all is the "fly perks" our family is enjoying!

We can fly with him when ever there is room in the plane, which is fairly often. Last week we flew to Phoenix AZ, Keyenta AZ and Provo UT. It's super fun to at a moments notice load up in the plane and get to spend the day shopping in Provo or out to eat in Phoenix. Plus, lets be honest, our town isnt really the ideal location for people, like us, who are accustom to shopping, restaurants, movie theaters and modern civilization in general.

Im so grateful for Scott. He works so hard for us. Im grateful he has a carrer he loves, has fun doing and is frankly incredibly skilled at. Last week we went out to lunch with Scotts new boss who is an old school pilot with so many flight hours he doesn't even keep track anymore, and when Scott was away in the restroom he told me Scott is one of the best pilots he's seen. Naturally skilled with an innate ability to fly. It's true, flying is second nature to Scott. He was born to fly.

Some recent pictures of our flying excursions...

The Simpsons are Back!

You know you missed our blog. I know I missed our blog. So why not redefy this whole situation and get back to that blog!

Holler.

Over the past 9 months or so we've had quite the adventure! We've moved twice. Yes, twice. Have I mentioned how much I HATE moving? Because really, it's quite the pain! We are now living in a itsy-bitsy little town in southern Utah. The population is about 2000 and there are 2 LDS stakes.... yes, STAKES, not wards, two stakes. That's a lot of members in a very small area people! The best thing about it is so many great, friendly people here all looking to make friends! In the short time (two weeks) we've been here we've met some great ones! In addition to an abundance of great members is the abundance of great outdoors stuff to do. Those who know us know we love to camp. Well, there is no shortage of camping, 4-wheeling, hiking, ect. here. As you can imagine, being close to Moab, the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell we have some fun adventures in store.

Previous to our move down to middle-of-nowhere-land we did quite a bit of camping up in northern Utah and southern Idaho. We really loved our trip up to Southern Idaho. It was green and lush and well, just incredible! Our camp site was right up on the river bed. We fell asleep each night to the sound of the flowing water and woke up every morning to the fresh mountain air.

The one camp site we would not recommend is Antelope Island in Utah. Its on the Salt Lake and the bugs were out of control. The whole island is covered in these tiny black flies that bite! Yes, it was beautiful. Sure, it was cool to see the herds of buffalo. But those relentless, biting bugs... ugg, no thanks. Poor Lukes face was covered in red poka-dots the next morning. Needless to say, we wont be going back there anytime soon.

Some pictures from our camping adventures over the summer....